MOBILETECH AG 2021 Programme

9.00am - 12pm

Pre-Event Workshop: ArcGIS in Agriculture

ArcGIS is the world-leading spatial or GIS technology used across widely across many domains including the primary industries. The workshop provides a practical overview of the ArcGIS Platform as well as in-depth coverage of how it is being used to address the unique challenges that face the agriculture, horticulture, and viticulture industries. Specific topics covered include Asset Management, Health and Safety, Farm Environment Planning, IoT Integration, and Drone Monitoring.

Julian Pilois, GIS Technical Consultant, Eagle Technology + Sarah Pitcher-Campbell, GIS Technical Advisor, Eagle Technology

Conference Registrations + Lunch + Networking

1.00pm

Welcome & Introduction

Innovatek

1.05pm

Opening Keynote: Agritech does not exist in a bubble - What are the key technologies shaping industries throughout NZ?

Graeme Muller, Chief Executive Officer, NZTech

How the development of data ecosystems unlocks the potential of data sharing in Europe

An enormous digitization is underway in the agri-food sector. In order to make optimal use of this data revolution in the near future, the willingness to share data between the agrifood supply chain partners is crucial.

Jürgen Vangeyte, Scientific Director Agricultural Engineering, ILVO, Belgium (via video link)

The Agritech Industry Transformation Plan: progress and actions

Launched in early 2020, the ITP was a significant initiative between the NZ Government and the agritech sector. The groundwork has been laid and this session will provide an overview of what is to happening and how you can engage.

Brendan O'Connell, CEO, AgritechNZ

Collaborating with Australia’s Agritech community

The Australian sector has taken major leaps with the recent formation of Agritech Australia and the Australia New Zealand Agritech Council. What opportunities will this create?

Dr Mike Briers, CEO, Food Agility, Australia (via video link)

Application of advanced technologies in agriculture

Advanced cloud-based technologies, such as AI and augmented reality, are creating exciting opportunities for innovation in agriculture. This session will focus on sharing some of those innovations, to stimulate thinking about how we can leverage these capabilities in New Zealand.

Russell Craig, Chief Technology Officer, Microsoft NZ

3.30pm

On the Ground: The Middle East is one of the fastest growing agritech markets in the world

In the lead up to Expo 2020 Dubai, and with food security top of the agenda for many governments in the Gulf region, there is a lot of agritech momentum in the Middle East right now. Demand is high from agri producers for innovative solutions to food and water scarcity challenges, and investment funds are prioritising the sector. New Zealand companies need to position themselves to be competitive across these dynamic markets.

Kevin McKenna, NZ Trade Commissioner and Consul-General, UAE, Qatar and the Levant, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, UAE (via video link) + Alpha Kennedy, NZTE Beachhead Advisor & Director – Middle East and Africa, Prime Consulting International (in-person)

Robotics: The challenges and opportunities this new technology introduces

Robotics has the power to transform the agricultural sector and has already started creating new ways of working. With the global shortage of labour and a rising global population, higher yields, and an evolution in automation are required. Let's take a look at how robotics is starting to revolutionise the industry - globally.

David Inggs, CEO, Rocos

Agriculture powered by supercomputing

Today data are gathered at different scales and at different frequencies by different organisations using different types of devices. Most of it using already outdated technologies and systems. This creates an integration challenge: digesting data at the local scale, using it to update regional and nationwide scale models, and feeding thus learned models back to the local scale to inform local inference. Real-time advanced modelling and simulation for quick decision-making requires significant computing power. Let's discuss how the Primary Sector will look like when we apply powerful tools and models already available.

Nicolas Erdody, Director, Open Parallel

Connecting the Rural Sector

While 5G is the next big thing, when will we see this outside of the urban centres and what technologies will fill the gaps in rural and hard to reach areas. Connectivity is essential for farmers and horticulturists to capitalise on the digital evolution.

Glenn Johnstone, Head of ICT Practices, Vodafone NZ

4.50pm

TECH Talks

Short, sharp presentations that showcase and highlight some of the best up and coming agritech innovations, products, services and collaborative opportunities.

5.15pm

8.30am

An ongoing challenge: Integrating farm environment plans within digital platforms

Warren Parker, Chairman of the Board, Pāmu Farms

The Future Farmer: The new skillset coming through the sector

Lynda Coppersmith, CEO, New Zealand Young Farmers

9.10am

Case Study: Connecting farmers with Yacker – An Australian startup

Heath McWhirter & Emma Ayliffe, Directors, Summit Ag, Australia (via video link)

9.30am

Digital Twins, VR and AR in Horticulture

Ben Judge, Senior Consultant, Company-X

10.00am

Morning Tea + Networking

International case studies for scaling data to insight with AI

Eitan Dan, General Manager - New Zealand, CropX

Horticultural applications for artificial intelligence and computer vision

Turning streams of data into actionable decisions is the key driver for the horticultural sector.

Ian Yule, Research Director, PlantTech Research Institute

Case Study: The impact of bureaucracy on step-change innovation

As an innovator, Government bureaucracy is both an opportunity and a potential barrier for technology. Hear insights on the development of the Spikey urine detection and treatment system, where the support has come from and the challenges that lie ahead.

Geoff Bates, Managing Director, Pastoral Robotics

Tackling food waste by becoming a data-driven business

On average 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted every year. But what if you could be smarter about how you grow by using data to get the right product, to the right buyer, at the right price and the right time – every time.

Jonathan Morgan, Chief Technology Officer, WayBeyond

Conference summary and final comments

Brendan O'Connell, Acting CEO, AgritechNZ

Conference Concludes + Lunch + Networking

1.00pm - 3.30pm

Post-Event Workshop: Connecting the Agritech Ecosystem

The agricultural industry is complex: farmers and their advisors use a multitude of tools. Real insights and powerful decisions happen when we can leverage information from a variety of data sources. At this workshop you’ll find out how agritech developers and agricultural businesses can make their systems work together. You will learn how you can join collaborations of interest to you, such as Agritech ITP projects, and find other systems you can interact with. This is an optional workshop with limited seating.

Andrew Cooke, Managing Director, Rezare Systems and Agritech NZ Practitioner Working Group